Weekly Town Crier
After a long hard week, enjoy this list of random links that we feel you may want to check out. Some may involve design, some may involve small business and others may just be something random we find interesting. Keep checking our site each Friday to find out what inspires or interests us. Feel free to email suggestions.
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Single-serve vino? Nice…
Learning how to make excuses.
Here’s how to create a backup strategy.
Mmm batch grillin’ chicken!
One person’s junk is another person’s…junk?
You be the judge.
Nice video to watch.
Out Sick
So, you started your own business. You went out and left corporate America. Ventured into open waters. You can do it. Stay focused. Get clients. Meet deadlines. Get paid. If all goes well, but what happens if you get sick? Catch a cold or the dreaded flu and you’re out. Or, you have an accident. Maybe learning to juggle just didn’t pan out. What do you do when you need a time out?
Before Independence
Back when you worked for someone else, it was easy. Okay, maybe not easy, but you were covered. Call in, someone picked up the slack and got it done. Maybe you got an uneasy call a few hours after calling in, asking questions, but someone was there.
After the Leap
Now, it’s all you. You take the calls. Answer e-mails. Sharpen pencils. Make appointments. Networker. You’re head of production and design. You oversee finances. And, sign your own checks…figuratively.
What happens when you need a timeout? Either for yourself or to take care of someone else. If YOU aren’t working, who will? How can you handle the unexpected?
Sick Plan
Though I do refer to some of my plans as being “Sick.” In this case, I’m referring to all the self-employed to have a backup plan…a Plan B.
Depending on your profession, find someone you can rely on. A colleague who has your back. Someone you can trust to promote and defend you while you’re out. A person who won’t back stab. Who won’t look for an opportunity to take over a client. Just come in, do what’s needed and keep you INFORMED. Don’t forget, knowledge is key. So, make a friend out there.
Have consultants lined up, just in case you need to call them in to help at a moment’s notice.
Honesty
Be honest. Communicate as much as you can to your team and clients! If you disappear, make sure you physically speak to a colleague as soon as you can. Sometimes, we have to miss meetings and deadlines. Finding out why after it happened can be harder for someone to take than just letting them know beforehand.
Stay Healthy
If you can help it, stay healthy. Improve your odds of not getting sick or hurt in the first place. Get rest. Eat sorta right. And all the other stuff people way smarter than me say about being healthy.
What do you do when you have to take a sick day?
photo credit: Scuddr
Sinkholes
Sinkhole: A natural depression in a land surface communicating with a subterranean passage, generally occurring in limestone regions and formed by solution or by collapse of a cavern roof, as defined by answers.com
Pretty scary. Look at this post’s photo taken in Guatemala after some heavy rains about a week ago.
The purpose of this post is to callout another element to your project, Soil.
Sinkholes occur because soil move around. Soil is settling, shifting, decaying and moves depending on what’s acting on it. This soil migration and more importantly, it’s composition, need to be studied at a project’s specific location. Soil characteristics can vary widely within a short distance, even on the same project site! When a building addition is planned and the footprint is established, the Owner needs to hire a Geotechnical Engineer (Soil Engineer) to investigate what is happening underground. They do this by taking sample test soil borings in certain locations and to established depths recommended by the Soil Engineer. Their findings may uncover the composition, strength, moisture content and other particulars for the soil. This information is provided with some general recommendations for the foundation design. The structural engineer and architect take that information and use it to properly design the building to withstand the soil conditions.
Soil boring tests should not be limited to big commercial buildings. Residential projects can benefit from these tests as well. House additions can benefit from a soils’ report,too.
It’s important to have the soil report completed early on a project. It may identify costly problems before construction begins.
photo credit: cluster flock
Abandoned Places
I’m a sucker for old buildings. Not just old buildings kept in immaculate condition. I like the old ones that are neglected, forgotten…abandoned.
Whether it’s trying to imagine what went on in them or why were they built? I think about what stories played out in their rooms.
If there’s one major criticism I have of modern architecture, it would be how quickly we demolish what we no longer need. I understand that not every building can be saved. If their structure is worn out, replacement may be the only economic option.
But for the buildings that can be saved and are built to last, can they be reused? Can they be retrofitted or refurnished to suit a new life?
Isn’t that true sustainable design?
And, there’s something about walking around an empty building. Maybe it’s the quietness of what’s no longer there, but you can’t help getting a chill while admiring the architectural ornament and other decorations that are beginning to fade.
Here are a few links that I like to check out:
photo credit: intermayer
Changes
Change can be exciting. New beginnings, going forth into uncharted territories, so much fun you can puke. Joking aside, change can be hard to handle, especially for a construction project. If change isn’t managed properly by all team members, it can shut down a job.
When is change good?
Change can fit into a project, it just depends on when. If the owner, contractor, or architect make design changes during the design process, it can be amazing. Change can take a good design to the next level and make it great. Typically, change works best early in the design phase, before construction documents are ready to go out for bidding.
If changes happen after a bid is accepted, they require a modification to the design, which may change cost and time, since the contractor has based is price on a specific set of drawings.
Why do changes happen?
EXISTING CONDITIONS: Let’s say you’re remodeling a house. And, we are going to redo the kitchen floors, ceiling, walls, the works. During the design phase, we can measure the floor/ceiling space based on some overall dimensions, floor to floor minus floor to ceiling. Unless we have direct access to that inside floor space, we can’t directly measure it or know exactly how the joists span. We can assume based on other elements exposed in a building, but we won’t know for sure until the demolition starts and the actual space is exposed. Do surprises lurk during demolition? Sometimes.
BUDGET CHANGES: Sometimes those discoveries made by exposing existing conditions can stop a project. Especially, if a structural problem is discovered. One project can turn itself into two or three, just to correct the problem. Also, budget changes can happen due to salary changes, owner’s losing jobs or getting promotions can affect the budget in either direction.
DESIGN CHANGES: No matter how many beautifully rendered plans, elevations or perspectives you generate, seeing something built gives you that real-world perspective. Once you’re experiencing the space, your opinion may change. And, there is indecisiveness. If you put off finishing the design until it’s under construction, it’s difficult for the contractor, if not impossible, to have figured for the change in their budget. If an unknown has to exist and you know there’s no way to make a decision until construction is underway, the contractor can figure in an Allowance. An allowance is an agreed upon amount built into the proposal for a specific item. Sometimes kitchen cabinets will be listed as an allowed amount of money in the budget. In commercial construction, typically door hardware may have an allowance budgeted into the project.
How do you manage change?
Managing change can be difficult, if not impossible. But, trying to have a complete design with the complete scope of work represented may help. Also, I recommend having a contingency amount built into your budget. That contingency is something you can discuss with your architect. The amount varies depending on the project and the complexity. Sometimes ten percent is fine, sometimes twenty is a more conservative choice fitting for a project with plenty of unknowns.
photo credit: Florencia Guedes
Freehand Sketching-Book Review
Today’s post is a book review of Freehand Sketching An Introduction.
I really like books that are compact. Ones that can travel with me. Don’t get me wrong. I have my favorite coffee table-architecture books, too. But, if I’m going to get something out of it. The book needs to travel with me. Freehand Sketching is compact and thin. It gets right to the point in the first few pages. I love it.
The writing style is purely instructional. Everything to get started sketching simple line drawings is the name of this book’s game.
I like it how the author, Paul Laseau, emphasizes the art of sketching. He doesn’t suggest you purchase some expensive pens or sketchbooks. He concentrates on the importance of practicing, training yourself to DRAW what you SEE. I admit, this is my biggest challenge. It’s difficult for me to not fill in the gaps, by drawing what I THINK I see.
I appreciate all the samples and exercises that are found throughout the book. Using found object to practice sketching. It reminds me of our drawing class, back in college.
Please check out this book. I first took it out of my local library, but it’s inexpensive and worth every penny!
Link to Freehand Sketching: An Introduction
